LYON, France – INTERPOL has published at the request of Saudi Arabia Red Notices for 47 internationally-wanted individuals sought by Saudi authorities in connection with alleged terrorism offences.
INTERPOL’s General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon issued the Red Notices at the request of its National Central Bureau (NCB) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after the Saudi Interior Ministry published a list of Saudi Al Qaeda terror suspects believed to be operating outside the country.
INTERPOL’s Red Notices, sent by its Command and Co-ordination Centre to all of its 188 member countries, include identifying details of each of the terror suspects to help law enforcement officers worldwide in their search, arrest and eventual extradition.
The spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry, Major General Mansour Al-Turki, said most of the 47 suspects, aged between 18 and 40, posed a potentially serious public threat at home and abroad due to their suspected involvement with Al-Qaeda and he urged the suspects to turn themselves in.
Praising 'the exemplary co-operation’ between NCB Riyadh and the INTERPOL General Secretariat for their joint efforts in issuing such a large number of Red Notices, Major General Al-Turki said Saudi Arabia had asked for the world police body’s assistance because 'INTERPOL’s global police communications network and tools provide essential elements for concerted international action in locating and detaining fugitives for their eventual extradition' to Saudi Arabia.
INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said that Saudi Arabia’s request for Red Notices to be issued for a large number of terror suspects once again demonstrated that the fight against terrorism could only be waged on both the domestic and international fronts, and that it recognized the fundamental role played by INTERPOL's global tools against terrorism.
"The issue of the Red Notices means that INTERPOL's global law enforcement network will maintain pressure on a large number of terror suspects who are at large and who represent a potentially significant threat to public safety."
“By asking for INTERPOL's assistance, Saudi Arabia and the INTERPOL bureau in Riyadh have ensured that all INTERPOL member countries have been made aware that these men and their activities represent a security concern not only for Saudi Arabia and the region but also worldwide,” said the head of INTERPOL.
In March 2009 INTERPOL published the largest ever single issue of Red Notices at the request of INTERPOL's National Central Bureau in Riyadh, following a global alert issued by INTERPOL the preceding month against 85 individuals wanted on terrorism-related charges, including links to Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A Red Notice can be requested by any INTERPOL member country and is issued by INTERPOL’s General Secretariat headquarters. It is placed in INTERPOL’s central database which can be queried by any member country, and can also be added to foreign law enforcement databases and border lookout systems. A Red Notice remains in effect until the wanted fugitive is extradited.